Clinic:

Author's Note

From having taught privately for a number of years, I have written and collected a small encyclopedia of reference pages. I would like share a few of those notes with fellow guitarists, and hope that some of it inspires perhaps a new way of looking at, or improves in some way the the craft of playing the guitar. With so many books, dvds, and on-line guitar schools, it is hard to imagine what another on-line resource could add. But what I have found is a lack of connection between solid music fundamentals and ways to use that information for contemporary guitar playing. And I think the gap is increasing, with influences like musical sporting events on TV, guitar video games, and online schools that teach to play by example, with little explanation. In all fairness, there are some great on-line resources for learning certain styles and getting some performance coaching. There is just too much reliance on play-by-example methods. On the other extreme, there are a wealth of technical method books and college courses to take, but there is usually a lack of popular music in the material, so a lot of guitarists are turned off by those prospects.

I feel it's extremely important to maintain legitimate resources for aspiring guitarists, that are interested in going beyond the mechanics, getting off the plateau they're on, to a level of understanding the music and then applying it to the guitar. Someone once said, "first a musician, then an instrumentalist." I believe that to be true. I have always loved it when parents would bring kids in for lessons, that had already had music on another instrument, perhaps in school band. It is fortunate for those students to have learned something about music, on an instrument that doesn't suffer the culteral stigmas associated with the guitar.

With that said, I have put myself to the challenge of filling the gap, first with some of these reference sheets along with some written advice. I also plan to develop some supporting videos to illustrate how all this information can be used to take charge of your playing, arranging a song instead of just copying something note for note, and more. This reference material may also be made available in its entirety in book form at some point. I am also available for live clinics on the subjects offered here.

Past Sessions

Alternate Major Scale Patterns for Reading and Transposing

Reading standard notation has long been a challenge for contemporary guitar players. There are some great methods to read classical and traditional music, but these methods often run out of steam and become frustrating to try and employ for most modern music. Having been trained on other instruments, more conducive to reading music, I have always had a desire to find a way to improve upon the old dogmas associated with reading music for the guitar. So, I have made a few observations over the years.

1) There are too many choices of position-based scale patterns, and the traditional patterns often do not fit the needed range. The ones I'm speaking of are those based on the shapes of the keys G, C, F, in first position.
2) To know a piece is to master it beyond reading it, and to make conscious choices about where to play phrases or harmonies to get the best effect. This is not what we do when sight reading or reading to learn a new piece.
3) Music that is well written for guitar is great. There is a certain comfort that we can count on. This is how we are taught in virtually all guitar method books. Unfortunately, we almost never see guitar parts as skillfully or conveniently written, as those in method books.
4) Much of time, we are reading a melody from a standard lead/vocal sheet, or something written for piano. Compared to a written vocal or piano melody, our note on the guitar is an octave higher. Worse yet, is when you are given a lead sheet, but told that the singer actually sings it in a different key. Transposing quickly becomes a necessary skill. A few times, I have played with orchestras using a "rhythm" chart, which includes various parts from the score, as an indicator of what's going on throughout the orchestra. You not only have to sight read it, but invent a guitar part in 2 or 3 passes:) So even when reading, we need big, big ears! No time to worry about scale patterns.
5) When I play single lines on the guitar, I mostly lead from lower frets on the lower strings to higher frets on the higher strings. This is what sounds good to me. Most guitarists will agree, I think. This also gives us greater range. It is difficult to get a smooth consistent tone staying within one of the standard position-oriented patterns.

So at some point I realized that, although I know all the position scale patterns across 12 frets, I often think of the 12 frets in two regions when deciding where to play something. One has the root of the key center on the 6th string, and one has the root on the 5th string. Each region extends 6 frets. When thinking in terms of reading and these regions, a light bulb came on, when I realized these two regions are shaped very similarly, unlike the hodge podge of standard scale pattern shapes, and they cover the whole 12 frets. Wow, only 2 patterns, similarly shaped that cover the whole entire 12 fret range. (Every 12 frets, the fretboard repeats itself, so if you have 12, you've got 'em all.) Their shapes are like playing in the keys of E or A in the first position. These scale patterns are not new. In fact, they're very popular with some heavy metal players, because of their 3-note per string organization I imagine, for those bullet-speed riffs.

Using these as a basis for reading has several benefits. It's mostly about easier decisions. These two patterns are organized similarly, and simply, so you don't have to reorganize your entire thought process of where the notes lie. Also, you can tranpose keys or play up an octave much easier than with the traditional patters. There is much more that can be illustrated with a video, which I will work in in the future.

Here are the two moveable scale patterns that I use for reading music.

Alternate Major Scale Forms

Three New Clinic Study Sheets

This is basic major chord information, but organized in such a way to remind us all of how basic guitar chords are organized, that is to say, where the root, 3rd, and 5th are located within the structure. The first sheet includes basic triads (3 note chord shapes). The 2nd sheet doubles one of the notes to make some very desirable 4-note voicings. You can convert these to minor chords by flatting the 3rd.

Major Chord Triads    Major Chords, 4-Part

Chord substitution is one of my favorite music theory subjects for guitar. As we play guitar long enough, we stumble upon cool substitutions because of the way they sound. It's even more fun, when you have it down. Here is an introduction to substitutions. In this sheet, subtitled Simplification, I'm trying to point out how you can play less then an entire chord, which makes things easier, and often sounds better or cleaner, especially when playing with a band. This is done in all kinds of music, including jazz, rock, blues, country, classical, ..doesn't matter.

Substitutions, Part I

The Martin Taylor Guitar Academy

Joining the Martin Taylor Guitar Academy is one of the most fun and educational things you can do to improve your fingerstyle guitar playing. Learning, with Martin as an instructor, is as enlightening as it is informative. If you play fingerstyle and haven't heard Martin play, you're in for a real treat!

Finding Notes

One of the most important tools that a guitar player needs early on is a way to find notes on the guitar. With a couple of simple rules, you can find any note on the guitar. Here they are!
Finding Notes   Finding Notes, Part 2

7th Chord Voicings

When I was busy occupying the practice rooms in school, and trying to figure out how to incorporate good theory into my playing, I worked out a chord system, which has been tremendously valuable. Now it turns out that I'm not the only one. Some very noteworthy players use this system. Nevertheless, I have not found it succinctly stated in any book. There are pieces of it around. Here is the set of voicings for dominant 7th chords, in 3 and 4 parts. There are definitely many more chord voicings available to guitarists. However, these have the distinct qualification of being adaptable on all string combinations, and for all of the 7th type chords. Just flat the 3rd for a minor chord, or raise the 7th for a major 7th. I hope to publish the whole set someday, along with examples of their use. Until then, I hope you enjoy this sample.
7th Chords in 4 parts   7th Chords in 3 parts